The Grenada gazette., 1887-09-24
POULTRY ON the FARM.


Conducted with intelligence, poultry
keeplng on the farm becomes one of
the most remunerative branches ~
farming. To the farmer the expense
Is trifling. and taking into considera.
!lon the fresh eggs and spring chickens
furnished the table the year around. II
Is the keepers fault if his fowls do not
pay their way in these two items alone
and afford handsome profit besides.
1t Is difficult to determine which ia
the most profitable breed for the farm,
While tho smaller breeds are the
greater egg producers and the smaller
consumers. many of them are useless
tor the table. the spring chickens
bring an inferior prico. and the
fowls, when marketed. amount TO very
little. On the other hand. among the
larger breeds. we find some excellent
layers with carcasses weighing at
maturity from six to ten pounds, while
spring chickens from these breeds
bring the highest price. The farmer
who wishes to improve his flock Of
native hens, can do SO in no better
way than by crossing them with one
OF these large breeds. The least ex-
pensive way to do this is to order q
sitting of eggs from some reliable
breeder Of pure-blooded fowls. Do
not grudge the money expended for
the sitting, but repeat the expenditure
as often as every two yearA If your
neighbor has gone to the trouble and
expense Of improving his flock in this
way, please do not ask HIM to ex-
change eggs with you.
Winter feeding should have egg-pro-
duction for its object, and here is one
Of the tests of the successful poultry
keeper. He does not fail to make his
hens declare dividend in the winter
time. To insure this. there must be
liberality and variety in feeding, with
plenty to drink. Corn alone will not
do it. There is hardly farm or gar.
den product of which fowls are not
fond. Remember that with them
''variety is the spice Of life." Feed
them as soon as they descend from
their perches. Feed them at noon,
when confined, and never omit the
nightly ration of corn, as upon this
slowly digested article Of diet they
largely depend for warmth through
the night He is a simple farmer who
will shell his corn for his hens. Let
them shell it themselves. They need
exercie. The buster you can keep
them. the better. One reason why
fowls pluck each others feathers and
get into mischief generally, is because
they are allowed to sit around and
and stand around with nothing to do.
Eggs are largely composed of water,
therefore provide plenty of pure drink.
and do not imagine that hens will not
drink much. just watch them. This
matter of watering is of the greatest
importance if we would nave eggs III
the winter, and yetit is matter gross
ly overlooked. and about which peo-
pie display great ignorance. Too
much emphasis can not be given it.
Fowls running at large through the
summer need no feeding. They are
tho 'scavengers of the farm and
will pick up their own living. Feed
young chicks upon wet corn meal.
| A warm house is the first requisite
to success. 1t is the same with poul.
try on the farm as with other stock;
warm quarters make less food needed.
If you have no comfortable house,
provide one Fifty hens will pay for a
iifty-do!lar house in one year. Aim for
warmth with thorough ventilation.
Lath and plaster it, as there are then
no hiding places for the lice. Do not
put ventilation in the roof. Place it
ut the floor. where the heavy vitiated
air settles, and make it capable Of be-.
ing closed during the day. Use a ce.
ment floor. 1t is easily cleaned. and
rats can not penetrate through it.
Disease is often the result OF over
crowding, without proper attention to
to cleanliness. ventilation, drink and
diet. Remedy this neglect and we
remedy the disease. Since ''an ounce
of prevention is worth pound of
cure" let us give our fowls proper at
tention, and so not be obliged to resort
to drugs.
To make the market give us the
greatest prices, there must be winter
oggs and early chickens. The greater
our stock of these the greater our
profit. Farmers lose money by wait
ing until the first cold weather and
then rushing their poultry off
to market All stock which is
not to be carried over should
be marketed before autumn. There
may be profit, but I fail to hear the
poetry, in the noise of goose. turkey
and duck. l prefer to preserve the
quiet of my home from any such "con.
fusion of tongues" believing. too, that
il a farm is to he stocked with all the
poultry it can carry. there is quite as
much profit in stock Of hens alone.
Earmors can not nav mortgages or